galactic_creaturesfandomcom-20200214-history
Tao Tei
Tao Tei appeared in the 2016 film called The Great Wall. The Tao Tei are a reptilian race from an unknown world that invaded Ancient China. The Tao Tei are green-skinned, carnivorous quadrupeds, similar in appearance to canids and similar carnivore mammals. They possess membranous head frills which resonate, allowing them to communicate with each other over long distances. These beasts possess elaborate motifs on the crests of their skulls, which gave the inspiration of the tao Tei motif to the cultures of Ancient China, and their leathery hides have an iridescent, jade-like quality. Their blood is a dark green in color. There appear to be three main castes of the Tao Tei: * Soldiers: The most commonly seen type and number in the millions, these Tao Tei are about the size of a lion and somewhat hyena-like in appearance, with long slender limbs and a short tail. Their yellow eyes are located on their shoulders rather than the head, and their head possesses sockets on the front of its snout giving it a skull-like appearance. They have four-fingered forepaws with sharp claws and opposable thumbs. It has multiple rows of sharp teeth, snake-like wide-opening jaws, a bristly black mane running down its back, and a gill-like opening on its nape that it uses to stridulate like a cricket and communicate over long distances. * Queen's Guards: These Tao Tei are fewer in number (about twenty or thirty overall), are about the size of an elephant, and are rather ape-like in appearance, with eyes located on their faces and possess retractable frills on their shoulders. They lack tails, have human-like hands strong enough to pick up a small soldier Tao Tei, and have small, flat-faced heads. Bulkier and more armored, these Tao Tei defend the Queen, and are able to unfold their heavily armored frills to act as shields against bombardment. These armored frills are capable of withstanding catapults and sharp projectiles. They are always seen forming a protective ring around the Queen. * Queen: About twice as big as the Tao Tei soldiers (but smaller than her royal guards), this creature commands and controls the Tao Tei hordes. She resembles a lizard or dinosaur of some sort, with an elongated, squat body, overlapping plates on her back, a long whip-like tail and her eyes located on her face. Her head is rounded with a bulging forehead, and her lips curve upwards giving her a permanent snarling expression. Her most distinguishing physical feature is the two-pronged sail on her head which vibrates to signal to her troops. She appears to be rather intelligent, being able to come up with strategies and countermeasures to fight the colonies enemies. Her primary task is to breed, which she can only in proportion to the amount of food given to her by the workers, which they consume en masse and regurgitate back to her. The Tao Tei are ravenous monsters whose sole purpose is to consume anything in their path. They are eusocial creatures like ants, dedicated to serving their queen. They are carnivores, and will devour any source of flesh be it animal or human, dead or living, and even retrieve the corpses of the other slain Tao Tei presumably to scavenge (and possibly to prevent the humans from studying them). In terms of intelligence, the Queen is the only member of the horde with any kind of advanced thinking capability. She is the only one that is confirmed to be capable of strategic analysis and planning in response to the changing circumstances on the battlefield. She is also shown to be ruthless in the execution of these strategies, is completely willing to throw away the lives of her soldiers to achieve her goals, though she will order a tactical withdrawal if she is losing too many for little to no gain. The Soldier Tao Tei on the other hand lack sapient level thought, though they do seem to possess enough intelligence to adapt on the spot to carry out the Queens orders; e.g. during the assassination of the Nameless Orders general, the two Tao Tei involved were shown of biding their time, waiting for the right moment to launch the attack and leaving the bodies of some human soldiers in order to make the generals bodyguards separate from the general, all without instruction on when and how to do so from the Queen. The Soldiers are also incredibly aggressive and fearless, being completely willing to charge headlong through a hailstorm of arrows and catapult shot despite being hit multiple times, and also willing to push themselves further onto spears to attempt to get at the human on the other end. The Tao Tei are able to run very fast and are moderately strong individually, but often rely on swarm tactics to overwhelm their enemies. Much of the food they devour is regurgitated back to feed the Queen, and large amounts of food allow her to breed more soldiers and expand their colony. Weaknesses The Tao Tei are pacified by magnets, as being in the vicinity of one seemingly blocks their connection with the hive mind, causing them to fall still and silent without instruction. While the Tao Tei are physically sturdy, able to shrug off a hail of arrows, jabs from lances or even being set on fire, a direct hit in the eye kills them instantly. While this is the easiest way to kill them, other methods such as making them swallow explosives or slicing them into pieces also seem effective. The Queen is the most vital aspect of the colony, as she both serves as the reproductive element of the colony as well as the mental initiator of the hive mind. Killing her causes the whole colony to collapse, with the entire army ceasing all activity and freezing in their tracks. Category:Creatures Category:Aliens Category:Quadrupedal Creatures Category:Canids Category:Reptiles Category:Carnivores Category:Man-Eaters Category:Live Action Creatures Category:Movie Creatures Category:Characters Debuting in 2016